Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 105

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Beers
Number of Pages: 1502

USA > Connecticut > Middlesex County > Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families > Part 105

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HON. GEORGE CROSBY BELL is a worthy representative of a family that has long been prominent in the affairs of the town of Portland, and is to-day one of its leading business men. He was born August 27, 1858. at Gildersleeve, in the town of Portland, in

the house which was, until 1902, his home, and which his father occupied for many years before him. He is the youngest child of his parents, Edwin and Harriet A. (Abbey) Bell, whose career forms the subject of a sketch elsewhere in this volume. George C. Bell attended the school at Gildersleeve, and a Mr. Pinkney was among his earlier teachers. Mr. Bell has lived to see a radical revolution in the public schools, and is a devoted friend to the cause of popular education. He also attended a private school in Portland, taught by a Miss Emmons, and when he was seventeen years old, was a pupil at the Bradford Students' Home on High street, Middletown, where he studied two years. Leaving that school, he entered his father's store, at the corner of Main street and Freestone avenue, Portland, as a clerk. He learned the business thoroughly, and then became a member of the firm of C. H. & G. C. Bell, operating on this same site. Since that time the business has been increased by taking on a line of shoes. George C. Bell re- mained a member of this firm until 1880, when he took the shoes, and went out to establish a shoe business for himself. He located on Main street, Portland, where he is found to- day in a building specially erected for him, and which includes the family home. He now handles clothing and gentlemen's furnishing goods, and controls the fashionable shoe trade of the town.

On May 25, 1880, George Crosby Bell married Miss Mary Hurlbut of Portland, daughter of James and Jane (Johnson) Hurlbut. To this union two children were born: Lucy A., and Raymond E., both of whom are living. Mr. Bell is a stanch Repub- lican, though no politician. In 1898 his fellow- citizens elected him to the State Legislature. where he was chairman of the Putnam Mem- orial Camp committee. In 1900 he was ap- pointed postmaster by President Mckinley. Fraternally he belongs to Warren Lodge, No. 51. A. F. & A. M., at Portland, and he is highly thought of among his Masonic brothers. Ile belongs to the Congregational Church, and Mrs. Bell is a member of the Episcopal Church. Mr. Bell has spent his entire business life in Portland, and has made a name for himself that entitles him to rank among the best men in the town. He is solid and substantial in his business, kind and courteous in spirit and man- ner, and counts a host of friends. From

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youth he has had delicate health, and when a boy was not expected to attain manhood, yet from his start in business he has been ac- tive and persistent. For the last four seasons he has gone summering with his family to East Orland, Me., where he has built two log cabins, and the climate seems greatly to bene- fit him.

HORATIO D. CHAPMAN. For more than two and a half centuries the family of Chapman has been prominently identified with the history of Connecticut and New England. The first American progenitor of the line of Horatio D. was one Robert Chapman, who emigrated from: Hull, England, to America in August, 1635, landing in Boston. The pre- cise date of his birth is uncertain, but tradi- tion fixes it as 1616. On reaching the New, World he proceeded at once to Saybrook, Conn., where he married and passed the re- mainder of his life. His wife was Ann Blith (or Bliss), to whom he was married April 29, 1642. He died October 13, 1687, and she on November 20, 1685. The names and dates of birth of their seven children were as follows : John, July, 1644; Robert, Jr., (2), September, 1646; Anna, September 12, 1648; Hannah, October 4, 1650; Nathaniel, February 16, 1653; Mary, April 15, 1655; Sarah, Septem- ber 25, 1657.

(II) Robert Chapman, Jr., (2) was the great-great-great-grandfather of Horatio D. Chapman. Both State and town records show him to have been a citizen of substance and in- fluence. He was extensively engaged in agricul- ture, the records of the Probate Court of New London showing that at the time of his death he was the owner of 2,000 acres of land in Say- brook, East Haddam and Hebron. For many years he was clerk of the Oyster River Quar- ter Sessions, besides repeatedly serving as com- missioner and surveyor of the town of Say- brook. Not long after the death of his father he was chosen a representative to the Colonial Assembly, and occupied a seat in that body for eighteen consecutive sessions. In church mat- ters he was equally prominent, having been sent as a delegate to the Assembly which in 1718 framed the famous "Saybrook Platform," which for nearly two hundred years has formed the basis of the Congregational Creed in the United States. To have been a member of that body may be rightly esteemed a higher

honor than to have filled any merely civil trust. He was twice married, on July 27, 1671, to Sarah Griswold, who died April 7, 1692 (she was, probably, a daughter of Lieut Francis Griswold, of Norwich). For his second wife Robert Chapman wedded, on October 29, 1694, Mary Sheather, relict of Samuel Sheth- er, of Killingworth). To the first union were born nine children. Of these two, born, re- spectively, on March 6, 1683, and November 6, 1689, died unnamed, shortly after birth. The others were: Samuel, born September 12, 1672; Robert (3), April 19, 1675; Sarah, September 12, 1677 (died October 15th, of the same year) ; Francis August 5, 1678; Dorcas, August 26, 1680 (died the same year ) ; Ste- phen, November 24, 1681 (died in 1686) ; and Sarah (2), December 19, 1686 (died in 1689). To the second union four children were born.

(III) Robert Chapman (3) was born in Saybrook, Conn., and removed from there to East Haddam, of which town he was one of the first settlers. His house stood in what is now called "Creek Row," and occupied. the present site of the home of James W. Chap- man (a brother of Horatio D.). His wife, Mary ( whose maiden name is unknown), died January 5, 1764, after reaching the age of ninety years, and he passed away December 24, 1760, in his eighty-sixth year. Their children-all born in East Haddam-were: David, December 16, 1698; Robert, Septem- ber 28, 1700; Jonathan, August 10, 1702; Ca- leb, Augst 21, 1704; Deborah, February 15, 1707; Francis, referred to below; and Sarah, 1715.

: (IV) Francis Chapman, son of Robert (3), was born December 25, 1712, in East Haddam, and there lived and married. His first wife was Susannah Rowley, and their mar- riage took place September 24, 1741. She died January 20, 1744, at the early age of twenty-four years, leaving an only child, also named Susannah, born October 10, 1742. On October 10, 1744, Francis Chapman was united in marriage to Temperance Jones, who died March 8, 1758, the mother of four children, all born in East Haddam, viz. : Samuel, August 5, 1750; Daniel, December 10, 1751; Mary, May II, 1753, (died June Ioth, same year) ; and Mary (2), February 5, 1755. His third marriage was on September 16, 1761, his wife being Mary Bate, daughter of Robert and De- borah Bate. She died January 10, 1791, at

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the age of fifty-eight years. The issue of this union was two sons and three daughters: Jo- siah, born April 30, 1763, who died March 15, 1785; Temperance, born December 5, 1765; Chloe, born March 25, 1768; Robert Bate, born February 22, 1773; and Nancy, born May 23, 1777.

(V) Robert Bate Chapman was an exten- sive landowner and successful farmer of East Haddam. He was married December 14, 1799, to Mehitable Willey, of Lyme, Conn., and died in January, 1853, having nearly rounded out his eightieth year. He was a Whig in politics, and in religious faith a Con- gregationalist. He was the father of eight children, as follows: Josiah A., born Sep- tember 8, 1800, married Hulda Swan. (2) Robert W. was born August 8, 1802. (3) Nancy, born April 18, 1805, married Heze- kiah Selden. (4) Susan M., born in Septem- ber, 1807, became the wife of Justin Townsend. (5) Henrietta, born 'April 18, 1810, married Rufus Swan. (6) Mehitable, born October 17, 18II, died unmarried. (7) Francis A., born October 11, 1815, married Sarah Beebe. (8) Charles L., born September 25, 1819, died February 18; 1831.

(VI) Robert W. Chapman followed in the footsteps of his ancestors, and tilled the soil, but also became a sawyer in the lumbermills of the neighborhood. He was a man of influence in East Haddam, where his native ability and high moral character both challenged and com- manded respect. In politics he was originally a Whig, afterward a Republican, and he filled the office of first selectman before, during and after the Civil war. He was a consistent and liberal member of the Congregational Church. He married Elizabeth D. Lay, daughter of Robert and Chloe Lay, of Westbrook, Conn., and she bore him three children : Ann Elizabeth born April 22, 1825, married Robert S. Cone, of Moodus, East Haddam town, Conn .; Ho- ratio D. is mentioned below ; Robert W., born November 13, 1828, died June 14, 1830. Mrs. Chapman died February 27, 1833, and Mr. Chapman married for his second wife Almira J. Beebe. This union was blessed with two sons : Wolcott W., born November 14. 1837. died January 19, 1841 : James W., born May 30, 1845. married Maria Palmer, and resides in the old homestead, in East Haddam.

(VII) Horatio D. Chapman was born All- gust 7, 1826, in the town of East Haddam. 37

His early educational advantages were such as were afforded by the district and private schools of his native town, but he improved them to the utmost, and before reaching his majority had qualified himself as a teacher, and in that vocation met with marked success, his experience covering a period of twenty years in all. His first engagement as a peda- gogue covered two terms in the school which he had first attended as a pupil, and in Port- land and Chatham also he wielded the birch and trained "the young idea." The attempted disruption of the Union by the seceding South- ern States fired his patriotic 'blood, and on August 6, 1862, he enlisted in Company C, Twentieth Connecticut Volunteer Infantry, serving with marked gallantry as corporal, until June 13, 1865, when he was discharged. His regiment was engaged in many of the most important battles of that great struggle, but he passed through them all unscathed, al- though more than once the cutting of his uni- form or his hat by a Confederate bullet warned him how closely Death hovered over the battle- field. Chancellorsville and Gettysburg were among the memorable engagements in which he participated. Later he followed "Sherman to the sea," and tramped through the Caro- linas and across Virginia's "sacred soil" to Richmond. During these memorable cam- paigns, even while on the march, he found time to keep a diary, which-today-is of sur- passing interest. and excerpts from which he is constantly asked to read when the "old boys" gather on Memorial Day to revive memories of the past and to lay chaplets upon the graves of the heroes of the Republic.

In 1866 Mr. Chapman came back to his native State, settling at East Hampton. For a year thereafter he was foreman in the Skin- ner saw-mill. and during the next year was in the employ of D. W. Watrous. For three terins he taught a village school in Chatham. Wearying of the teacher's dais, he accepted an offer to become a traveling salesman for the bell and coffin trimmings industries of East Hampton. In this line of work he was suc- cessfully engaged for twenty-five years. In the spring of 1899 he traveled for N. N. Hill, and he is still erect, hale and hearty, with un- dimmed mental factulties, at the age of seventy- six years. He is a man held in high esteem by the community which best knows and ap- preciates his worth, and has filled various lo-

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cal offices with marked distinction and fideli- ty, among them being those of selectman (two years), member of the board of relief, and of the board of education for between twelve and fifteen years. In 1897 he served as door- keeper for the General Assembly, and in 1898 was a candidate for the Republican nomina- tion for representative, but was defeated by a few votes in the caucus. He is a member of Mansfield Post, No. 53, G. A. R., and has always been prominently identified with all local temperance societies. Religiously he is an active and consistent member of the Con- gregational Church, in which he is a deacon.

On November 25, 1852, in East Hampton, M. Chapman was married to Rosannah Skin- ner, who was born October 5, 1832, daughter of Warren A. and Anna (Day) Skinner, and died September 24, 1899. Children as follows were born to the union: (1) Francis Lyman, born January 12, 1854, died in 1855. (2) Elizabeth (or Lily) Cone, born July 29, 1856, is the wife of Thomas S. Brown, sheriff of Middlesex county, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere. (3) Robert Bate, born Septem- ber 8, 1858, died the same year. (4) Annie Skinner, born February 2, 1861, married Fer- dinand W. Allis, of Hartford, and is the moth- er of six children, Horace D., Rosa Skinner. Burdette, Lily, Homer and Raymond. (5) Laura A., born May 30, 1866, became the wife of Jonathan Williams, of East Hampton, and died October 16, 1901. (6) Robert Wol- cott, born October 10, 1869, is at present (1902) chief bookkeeper for the Howard Manufacturing Company, of Boston, Mass., in whose employ he has been for fourteen years. (7) Abby Lay, born October 27, 1872, is the wife of Howard Curtis, of East Hampton, to whom she was married July 3, 1901.

GEORGE NEWTON WARD (de-

ceased). The Ward family is one of the oldest and most respected in Middlesex county, and is connected, through intermarriage, with not a few others who trace their ancestry back to early Colonial days.

The first American progenitor of that branch of the family to which George N. Ward belonged was Ensign William Ward, who was born August 16, 1632, in Northley, Oxford -. shire, England. In 1650 he was one of the. original proprietors of Middletown, where he died March 28, 1690. George N. Ward was

in the sixth generation from Ensign William Ward, tracing his line through John ( 1), 1678- 1761 : John (2), 1716-1802; John (3), 1757- 1804; and John (4), 1788-1869.

John Ward (2), the great-grandfather of George (N. Ward, lived at what is now the northwest corner of Main and Williams streets, Middletown. He was one of the largest landed proprietors of his day, being familiarly spoken of as "landed Ward." He reared six grand- children, and gave to each of them a farm, when he or she began life. He married Mary Bosworth and was the father of John (3), the grandfather of the gentleman whose name opens this sketch. [Further mention of John Ward may be found in the biography of Henry Ward, a grandson, elsewhere. ] This John was born in 1757 and died in 1804.

John Ward (4), was born April 9, 1788, and was also a resident of Middletown ; he lived to be eighty-one years of age, dying in 1869, having lived during four of the country's wars. He married Parnel Newton, and was the fa- ther of George N. Ward, who was his eldest son.

George Newton Ward was born May 29, 1816. on what is commonly known as Long Hill. He passed his boyhood after the fashion of other farmer boys of his time, becoming familiar with farm work while yet a lad. He was a pupil in the "old stone" school house on Long IFill, and in the Lancasterian School, at the intersection of William and Broad streets, in Middletown. While yet a young man he embarked in business for himself, opening a general store at South Farms which soon be- came well known throughout the adjacent terri- tory. He was possessed of keen, shrewd busi- ness sense, cool, sound judgment, and far-) reaching commercial enterprise. His ambition soared higher than the keeping of a country store, and as years went by he became inter- ested in various enterprises of widely varying character. At one time he was manager of the old milling business at the foot of Union street, the plant being then owned by a com- pany whose list of stock holders included such names as those of Henry G. Hubbard, Samuel Russell, Erastus Brainard, of Portland, and others equally well known in business circles He also conducted the Staddle Hill mill for a time, and in connection therewith a feed store on the premises at present occupied by Messrs Meech & Stoddard. Later he founded and

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operated a plant for the manufacture of gun- locks, but shortly thereafter failing health obliged him to seek absolute rest from business cares for several years, and the factory, which was located on Spring street, was sold to Tib- balls Brothers. For many years Mr. Ward was connected with the Farmers & Mechanics Sav- ings Bank, as treasurer, succeeding ex-Gov. O. V. Coffin, a post for which he was amply quali- fied by native capacity, wide acquaintance, and long and varied business experience. Here was repeatedly brought into play his familiarity with real estate values, of which he was a sing- ularly accurate judge. His advice on questions of this character was constantly sought by the bank's customers, and rarely did his judgment prove at fault.

An uncompromising foe to the system of human slavery, Mr. Ward's political affiliations in early manhood were with the "old line" Whigs. He voted for Gen. William H. Harri- son in 1840, and after the formation of the Republican party always acted with that or- ganization. While always a stanch party man, he was never a political worker. He was a Con- gregationalist in faith, and a member of the Society's committee of the First Church, to- ward whose work he was a liberal contributor. He was twice married. His first wife, to whom he was united at Barkhamsted, Litch- field county. May 1. 1848, was Emily Cornelia Loomis, who was born in that town December 18, 1827. She belonged to an old Connecticut family, her ancestors having originally settled at Windsor. Leister Loomis, her father, was born at Vernon, Conn., October 2, 1791, and accompanied his parents, Luke and Ruth ( Loomis) Loomis, to Barkhamsted, when he was a child of six years. Leister Loomis mar- ried Emily Filley. They had three sons. The eldest. Lucius Lorenzo, born April 1, 1817. was in mercantile pursuits the greater part of his life in Owego and Dansville, N. Y., and later in Milwaukee, where he died April 17, 1884. The second son, Rev. Chauncey L., born April 21, 1819, was educated at the Western Reserve College, in Ohio, and subsequently was a professor in a college in Boonville, Mo. In after life he went as a missionary to Africa, having previously studied medicine ( receiving the degree of M. D. ) the better to equip himself for his task of self-sacrificing devotion. After the loss of wife and child in the "dark con- tinent" he returned to the United States, pass-

ing his declining years at Middletown, where he died January 13, 1894; he was buried at Hartland, Conn. The third son, Herman Leister, born March 19, 1822, died February 7, 1899, at Medina, Ohio; he was a farmer.

Mr. Ward's first wife died June 21, 1850, one week after the birth of her only child, and sleeps at Farm Hill cemetery. The son. George I .. , born June 14, 1850, was drowned May 23, 1889. On May 24, 1853, Mr. Ward married the sister of his first wife, Huldah Lucentia Loomis, who was born at Barkhamsted, De- cember 27, 1829, and to this union came John L., who died in infancy ; Emily Lucentia, who (lied at the age of sixteen years; and Henry Chauncey, who is briefly mentioned in a suc- ceeding paragraph. George N. Ward died Oc- tober 18, 1893, and was laid to rest in Farm Hill cemetery.

To review the life and character of men like George N. Ward is not an easy task. Begin- ning life as one may say, "in fustian." he re- mained unostentatious until its close. That he had an inherent fondness for accumulation can- not be denied, yet his business methods were never inconsistent with strict commercial in- tegrity and personal honor. Endowed with native quickness of perception and shrewd, keen, business sense, he accumulated a com- fortable property, without deviating a hair's breadth from the strict law of integrity, and left to his widow and son the priceless heritage of an unsullied name. Mrs. Ward is yet living.

HENRY C. WARD, the only surviving child of his father's second marriage, and the sole male representative of the seventh generation of the descendants of William Ward, so far as known, is one of the well known young busi- ness men of Middletown. He was born in that city August 18, 1862, and graduated from the local high school in 1881. Shortly thereafter he entered the office of Stiles & Parker. as a bookkeeper, remaining in the employ of that well-known firm for two years. Later he be- came secretary of the People's Insurance Com- pany ( since defunct ) ; and was for a few years in the furniture business in the building erected by his father for the purpose, and now occupied by Caulking & Post, which building Mr. Ward remodeled extensively for their 11se. Ward is at present connected with the First National Bank of Middletown. In private life he is genial and generous. A faithful friend. he is deservedly popular. lle is fond of those

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out-door sports which benefit a gentleman, and gives liberally to maintain them, and he and his wife are prominent in social circles in Mid- dletown.

In October, 1888, Mr. Ward married Cuba I. Post, who was born in Burlington, Vt., De- cember 30, 1869, and is a lady of native refine- ment. She is a member of one of the oldest and most distinguished families of the Green Mountain State, and thoroughly sympathizes with her husband in his social instinct and im- pulses. She is a daughter of Charles C. and Sylvia Calista ( Partch) Post, both of whom are deceased, her father having passed away October 15, 1899, and her mother July 22, IS96. To Mr. and Mrs. Ward have been born one son and one daughter: Leroy Pierpoint, born August 13, 1889, who is the only male representative in Middletown of this old family in the eighth generation ; and Marguerite, born April 16, 1891.

AUGUSTUS HENRY MILLER (de- ceased ) was in his lifetime a highly respected and industrious farmer of Newfield, in the town of Middletown, Middlesex county.

The first to bear this family name in Ameri- ca was Thomas Miller, who came from Bir- mingham, England, to Rowley, Mass., where he was enrolled as a freeman in 1639. In

1653 he removed to Middletown, and built the first mill in the town at Miller's Brook, where one of the Russell factories is now standing. By his first wife, Isabel, he had a daughter, Ann. who, in 1653, married Na- thaniel Bacon, the progenitor of one branch of the Bacon family in Middletown. Thomas Miller was married a second time, when he was fifty-six years old, to Sarah, daughter of Samuel Branford, and by her had the follow- ing named children: Thomas, who married Elizabeth Turner, and after her death, Mary Rowell; Samuel, who married Mary Eggles- ton ; Joseph, who married Rebecca Johnson ; Benjamin, mentioned below'; John, who mar- ried Mary Beavin; Margaret, who married Isaac Johnson : Sarah; and Mehitable, who married George Hubbard. Thomas Miller, father of the above family, died August 4, 1680. Mrs. Sarah Miller died March 20, 1728.

Benjamin Miller, who was called "Gov." Benjamin Miller, was born July 20, 1672. He

was one of the first three settlers in Middle- field, locating in the southeastern part, near the Durham line, was a man of affairs and much influence, especially with the Indians. He moved from South Farms in about 1700. On September 18, 1695, he married Mary Johnson, was born in 1676, daughter of Nathaniel and Mary (Smith) Johnson. To this union were born: Rebecca, wife of David Robinson, of Durham; Sarah, who became Mrs. Joseph Hickox; Mary, Mrs. Spencer ; Benjamin, the next in the line; Hannah, who married Ephraim Coe; Isaac; Mehitable, Mrs. Barnes ; Ichabod, who married Elizabeth Cornwall, daughter of Capt. James Cornwall, and widow of Jeremiah Bacon. The mother of this family died December 15, 1709, and Mr. Miller mar- ried, for his second wife, Mercy Bassett, who was born in 1677, at New Haven. To this union came the following: Lydia, who mar- ried Eliakim Snow; Amos, who married Abi- gail Cornwall; Ebenezer; Martha, who mar- ried Thomas Adkins; Rhoda, who became the wife of Benjamin Bacon; David, who married Elizabeth Brainard; and Thankful. "Gov." Miller died November 7, 1747, and Mercy, his widow, died February 9, 1756. They were buried in the old cemetery at Middle- field.

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Commemorative biographical record of Middlesex County, Connecticut : containing biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens, and of many of the early settled families, Part 105

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub Publication date: 1903 Publisher: Chicago : Beers Number of Pages: 1502

Author: Beers (J.H.) & Co., Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1903
Publisher: Chicago : Beers
Number of Pages: 1502